Now the old couple was at their wit's end. Since the young girl in front of them said she could help them find their youngest son, they might as well give her a try. After all, it was better than doing nothing.
"Alright then, young girl. We'll trust you. We don't have high hopes for you, but you're definitely better than that muddle - headed County Magistrate Luo who does nothing."
"Thank you for trusting me," Wei Shuxuan showed a gentle smile. "Next, I'll ask you some questions. You must answer me truthfully, okay?"
"Whatever you want to know, my old man and I will tell you everything we know."
Wei Shuxuan asked the old couple when they first noticed their youngest son was missing. According to them, it was three months ago in the morning. The old woman went to wake her son up for breakfast as usual, but didn't find him in his room. She thought it was strange because the boy never got up early. But they didn't take it seriously, thinking he might have something urgent to do.
"We didn't realize that Sheng Hao was really gone until three days later. It was the butler who told us. He said when he was tidying up Sheng Hao's room, he found everything was in order and nothing was taken away. If he had gone on a long - distance trip, he should have taken some things, but he didn't. That's when we realized Sheng Hao was missing."
Wei Shuxuan made a record of their words. "May I go to your youngest son's room? I'd like to take a look."
"Of course you can."
"By the way, have you tidied up his room, old woman?" As they walked in the corridor, the sunlight shone brightly in the yard, but only a few rays of sunlight reached the corridor, most of it blocked by the pointed eaves.
"After the butler told us, I didn't let the servants tidy it up. Then my old man and I went to the government office to report the case. That County Magistrate Luo said he would handle it, but no one came to investigate and we never got any response. We don't know what to do. We ordinary people don't know how to solve a case. We can only accept this fact. Wuwuwuwu..."
Seeing the old woman so sad, Wei Shuxuan was even more determined to help the old couple find their son.
When they got to the room, Wei Shuxuan first checked the window sill. There was nothing there. Well, it had been three months. How could there still be anything?
She left the window sill and checked other parts of the room. The room wasn't big and there weren't many things in it. She could see everything at a glance. As she looked around, a familiar mark suddenly appeared beside the bookshelf. It wasn't very obvious. If you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't notice it.
She quickly walked over to the bookshelf. Because of the passage of time, the color of the flame mark had faded, but Wei Shuxuan thought it didn't matter as long as she could see the outline clearly. She took out a piece of drawing paper from her bosom and carefully compared it. It was exactly the same mark. It seemed to be the same group of people.
After making a record at the first victim's house, Wei Shuxuan left for the second victim's house. Since there were quite a few missing people, it was impossible to visit all of them in one day. It would take at least eight or nine days to record all the information. So she asked Wei Wei and the others to help and try to finish it within three days. She told them what to focus on and to record the whole process of the disappearances in detail.
Finally, she got all the information from the crime scenes of the victims. Since three people disappeared in the inn, the innkeeper reported the case immediately after noticing their disappearance. However, the government never sent anyone to investigate. In the inn, only the same flame mark was found, but there was no trace of the knockout powder.
Wei Shuxuan flipped through the records they had made. Twelve of the families had traces of the knockout powder, and some had the knockout incense. But there was a flame mark in every family. This indicated that the flame mark was the symbol of this group of human traffickers.
Their method was to use the knockout incense to drug the people they wanted to kidnap and then take them away. Moreover, this group of people must be quite good at martial arts. Among the people who reported the disappearance of their family members, there were quite a few rich people. To be able to kidnap someone under the noses of the guards, they must be skilled in martial arts. Most of the disappearances happened at night, and the people were only noticed missing the next day.
Seeing Wei Shuxuan looking through the records made by Wei Wei and Xin Shang so seriously in the room, Xin Zizhao picked up the clothes on one side and put them on her. "It's very late. Why are you still looking at this notebook?"
"Xin Zizhao," Wei Shuxuan turned around and hugged his waist. "I'm just looking to see if there are any clues."
"Have you found any clues?" Xin Zizhao let Wei Shuxuan hug him and act coquettishly. He sat down beside her and stroked her slightly wet long hair. "Your hair isn't even dry yet. No wonder you don't want to go to sleep."
"It's all your fault for running off to find Zian and not coming back to help me dry my hair."
There was a hint of coquettish complaint in Wei Shuxuan's tone. Xin Zizhao smiled gently. "I'm back now, aren't I? I just had something to discuss with Zian."
Hearing this, Wei Shuxuan became interested. "What were you discussing? Can I know?"
"I can't tell you for now. Actually, I'm not sure yet, so I went to discuss it with Zian and asked him to conduct a private investigation first."
"Aww, I can't gossip about it."
Wei Shuxuan felt a bit disappointed, but she quickly cheered up. Xin Zizhao picked up a dry towel and started to dry her hair while she continued to look at her notebook.
"Where do you plan to start the investigation?" Xin Zizhao asked her.
"Actually, I have no clue at all for now. But I think I should start from the flame mark and see if there's any place around here that uses this mark."
"It won't be that easy for you to find it. This should be a kind of sacred symbol. They won't show it to outsiders, so it won't be that easy to find."
Although she was discouraged by Xin Zizhao again, Wei Shuxuan didn't plan to give up.